{"title":"Grumpy","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"grumpy-wolfed-ep","title":"Grumpy - Wolfed EP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReleases October 25, 2024\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/profile?id=3519459818#navbar-section\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/bayonet.nyc\/saltlick\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSaltlick\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFlower\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eProtein\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBeach Towel\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHolding\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMandarin Allemande\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-----\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"customHeaderWrapper\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"band-navbar-wrapper flex\"\u003e\n\u003col id=\"band-navbar\"\u003e\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-tooltips='{\"tooltips\":[],\"dash_seen\":false}' class=\"trackView leftMiddleColumns has-art\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"leftColumn\" id=\"trackInfo\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"trackInfoInner\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eHeaven, front person of Grumpy, keeps their friends close and their exes closer. The keyboardist and bassist are Heaven’s ex girlfriends, the drummer is their ex-husband (the guitar player and Heaven never dated but when they first moved to New York Heaven had a crush on Diego and there was one night when they thought they might kiss but they didn’t). Juicy, right? It sounds scandalous but really it paints a picture of the deep intimacy Heaven has with their collaborators. When Grumpy plays, the stories being told have a realism that can only be created when the songs are performed by the people they are about.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe new Wolfed EP sits in the Grumpy discography as their most confident and self-flourished work to date. Grumpy released their first record, Loser in 2020. is the origin story to the first of many “winners” coming for Grumpy. In the four years since the release of Loser, Heaven got divorced, moved to New York and was, for the first time, on their own. During this time Heaven transformed. They became brighter, happier, and much more confident. The same transformation is true for Grumpy’s new sound. With Wolfed, Grumpy makes a triumphant return with a body of work that takes bigger risks, laughs louder, and has more fun. In the lyrics you hear the self\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003edeprecating admissions of a person hilariously stumbling through love and life. But in the production, you get an impression of a cocky, jester type, unashamedly working for your attention. This dichotomy, somehow, leaves you charmed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn stage, Heaven’s banter is a mix of high-confidence-rock-star and awkwardly honest dork. Looking at the full room of show-goers Heaven says into the mic, “well this is a perfect set up for me because I love attention.” There is an earnesty in the way Grumpy asks for your attention that makes you give it to them generously.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen someone “wolfed”, they “ate”, they “crushed”, they “devoured.” This is how Grumpy feels about their latest EP, Grumpy holds the difficult truths about themselves and swallows them whole, proudly. Take “Flower” for example: Heaven sings, “Sometimes I think of you so hard, I wonder if you can sense it”. There is a sweetness in their delivery that, coupled with the overt confidence that emits from such unabashed confessions, creates a portrait of love in a constellation. In Grumpy’s world, adoration has gravity. And they want you to feel it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn “Beach Towel”, a gorgeous, ambient drone underscores Heaven’s a portrait of the imperfect love of friendship. They picture wearing the body of their closest confidant to their own birthday party, where everyone can witness how important they are to each other, despite not being lovers. For lead singer, Heaven, it is rare that a non-lover obtain such closeness and they want everyone to understand the status they hold in this person’s life saying, “If I could meet your older sister, I would hope she thinks I’m funny \/ She’d report back to your family that we’re very close”. The sparse, chilling instrumentation of “Beach Towel” exposes the often cocky Grumpy character as a person insistent on being thought of as loved and important to someone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Grumpy brand of idyllic proximity to a world of potential lovers permeates through the sonics of Wolfed. Growling synth swells paired with thumb-piano cascades bleed seamlessly into wall-of-sound guitars over ripping slow-core drums on “Holding”. Heaven screams “I could be there in 5 hours, if you hold on and I speed,” as the band thrashes on harder and harder. Distorted screeches greet the ear like rings from a bell tower, where the clock is Love, and you can see it from any rooftop. And suddenly, we’re sucked back out and met with Mount Eerie-esque musings on the past. Heaven’s desire is beyond charming– their willingness to pause life for someone is palpable. And all just to hold onto love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Wolfed fades out on the gorgeous outro track, “Mandarin Allemande. And by the end of the EP the boastful, tophat wearing, dark fantasy, circus ringleader is redeemed as, just a person, wanting to give and receive love. A couple of chords and the humming of a familiar tune bring us back into a hand-holding world of safety and comfort. Heaven’s love isn’t reckless, it is playful and highly considered. Heaven may stumble and hit the wrong notes, say the wrong thing. But they do it for love. For Grumpy, those missteps are not preventable speed bumps in a relationship, but the Kintsugi cracks that make life worth singing about.. For in those painful moments of a relationship, we find Truth about ourselves. There is simple serenity found in realizing your imperfections the hard way. Grumpy exposes those missteps and invites you to laugh. By the end of “Wolfed” we leave the circus tent less afraid of ourselves.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Grumpy","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41097443967022,"sku":"BR065cass","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0947\/9132\/files\/0037042540_10.jpg?v=1725385730"},{"product_id":"grumpy-piebald-ep","title":"Grumpy - Piebald EP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReleases September 26, 2025\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e**CD Includes a Grumpy bumper sticker while supplies last**\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003eBird Parts ft. Harmony\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/8FiMiT1i7Os\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003eCrush\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003eDeeptalker\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003eProud of You\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003eKnot \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003eRice\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/bayonet.nyc\/saltlick\" style=\"background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-----\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"customHeaderWrapper\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"band-navbar-wrapper flex\"\u003e\n\u003col id=\"band-navbar\"\u003e\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"trackView leftMiddleColumns has-art\" data-tooltips='{\"tooltips\":[],\"dash_seen\":false}'\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"trackInfo\" class=\"leftColumn\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"trackInfoInner\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e \u003cspan\u003eGrumpy’s EP Piebald is a lopsided grin with a knife behind it — a shimmery gut punch that turns the grotesque into glamor and heartbreak into theater. Anchored by a voice that wavers between charming villain and sad clown, Piebald invites the listener into a world where ugliness isn’t just embraced — it’s the source of Grumpy’s power.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRooted in DIY ethos and wrapped in Goosebumps-style theatrics, Piebald plays with the idea of ugliness as performance. It’s “clown logic,” exaggerating what is meant to be hidden for the listeners’ amusement. It’s not about being the hero. It’s about being the lovable malefactor, the main character who refuses redemption but demands attention. Grumpy isn’t embarrassed. They peel off the polish, slap on their tophat, and let the pain strut around in heels. Think Beetlejuice with a bleeding heart, Old Gregg in a spiral of ex-lovers and unmet needs. Heaven, the songwriter and front person of the band, doesn’t flinch, even as they offer themselves up for gawking. Pain is packaged with color, humor, and flair — it’s safe to look, but only because they’re in control of the spectacle.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReleased at the end of 2024, Wolfed earned Grumpy coverage in Stereogum, Paste, and the New York Times. The band\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ecrashed into 2025 with a series of collaborative singles, including \"Lonesome Ride\" with Sidney Gish and Precious Human, and \"Harmony\" with Claire Rousay and Pink Must. Piebald follows these playful experiments with even more delectable grotesqueries. \"It’s honesty in drag,\" Schmitt says of the music: not covered up but accentuated, exaggerated, liberated, stalking the stage in chiffon and top hat.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn theory that's Schmitt on the cover of the EP, photographed on the beach of Fort Tilden Park. The band's synthesist and creative director Anya Good smeared the image in the computer until she'd turned them into a carnivorous ungulate -- not a horse, despite the hooves, but a beast made up of every kind of beast, hideous and staggering, grinning with long, pointed teeth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's the same with the music: It devours everything. It's got a real big mouth. It doesn't take long for the drain to get unstopped on opener \"Bird Parts,\" when a disgusting, delicious gurgle breaks up the breezy chords. \"Crush\" is all sugar: \"Baby, what's your screen name? Let's hold hands online,\" Schmitt sings. \"Proud of You\" and its Y2K sample chops might make you think of Smash Mouth, and I mean really think of Smash Mouth -- like, you might go back to \"All Star\" and marvel at the C-sharp diminished chord tilting the chorus askew. These songs breach with the delight of new love and then they wallow in the disaster of love disintegrating, and they're so incredibly into it all, starving for it, reeling with every kind of intensity, until the edges between desire and pain start to fuzz.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrumpy plays into the idea of irresistible monstrosity. I’m drawn to ugliness laced with charm,\" Schmitt says. \"My whole songwriting ethos is about how ugly can I be, how much can I admit, how much can I perform the things that have been most painful in my life. The Grumpy character is a villain who wins over the listener with his acceptance of pain and sense of humor. He's creepy, brash, and, somehow, charming. He's got bravado and prowess. He’s inviting an audience to be entertained by his ugliness. And I think that’s what songwriting is: performing your pain for entertainment or catharsis.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe band produced the EP all together, projecting a laptop screen onto a big TV and taking turns tweaking the tracks in Ableton. \"We’re like the pit crew of a beast,\" says Schmitt. \"I feel grateful all the time that people are willing to help me with my lab-made monster.\" Most of Schmitt's bandmates are also their exes, a fact they wear as a point of pride. \"I have so much comfort with my exes. I love to laugh about being dumped but remaining very close,\" they say. \"I’m not ashamed of going through rejection. And I’m proud to deepen these bonds even after the romantic relationship has ended.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePiebald flings itself open into an invitation to really love the ugly stuff: not just accept it, not just endure it, but wrap your arms all the way around and drink in the scent of its fur. \"Bird Parts\" opens the EP with the thesis, “My girl isn’t mine \/ I’m a bottom feeder \/ I can’t kiss her but she calls me when I really need her.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"That’s Grumpy’s ethos in miniature,\" says Schmitt. \"It insists on dignity in the midst of humiliation, on connection despite rejection. It’s about remaining indispensable even when discarded. Piebald doesn’t ask for pity. It casts a spell and dares you to look away.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Grumpy","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41453596901422,"sku":"BR071cd","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0947\/9132\/files\/OpenCD_Mockup_Piebald_1.jpg?v=1752120144"},{"product_id":"grumpy-is-my-least-favorite-band-t-shirt","title":"Grumpy Is My Least Favorite Band T-shirt","description":"\u003cp\u003eShow your distaste!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Grumpy","offers":[{"title":"Small","offer_id":41454110375982,"sku":"grumpyleastfavshirt-s","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Medium","offer_id":41454110408750,"sku":"grumpyleastfavshirt-m","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Large","offer_id":41454110441518,"sku":"grumpyleastfavshirt-l","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"XL","offer_id":41454110474286,"sku":"grumpyleastfavshirt-xl","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0947\/9132\/files\/5_09253ee1-f50e-4f65-a302-ee09732412b2.png?v=1752120500"},{"product_id":"grumpy-unfindable-ring","title":"Grumpy - Unfindable Ring","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReleases October 23rd, 2026\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e**Bundle includes signed LP \u0026amp; a hand engraved ring by Grumpy!**\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1. Unfindable Ring\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2. OBL\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e3. yr bitch\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e4. Football Tour\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e5. Answers\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e6. The Whale (ft. D.A. Crimson)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e7. Last of Your Kind\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e8. WTF\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e9. George Clanton\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e10. Cool Ranch\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e11. Solicitors' Rights\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e12. Twenty Five\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e13. Queens\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-----\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"customHeaderWrapper\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"band-navbar-wrapper flex\"\u003e\n\u003col id=\"band-navbar\"\u003e\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"trackView leftMiddleColumns has-art\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"trackInfo\" class=\"leftColumn\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"trackInfoInner\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e \u003cspan\u003eThe comfort of kids’ hidden object games––iSpy, Where’s Waldo, a carnival treasure dig––is that the thing you’re searching for really does exist, and you’ll find it, should you only try hard enough. Not quite so as we get older. The more we learn, the more we realize the coveted loot isn’t always within reach. It might not exist at all. The Golden Fleece, the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail. For Grumpy, this is the “Unfindable Ring.” The record opens with a confession, an appraisal of his work until now: “I dive for an unfindable ring,” Grumpy’s Heaven Schmitt sings on the title track, “a grand gesture type thing \/ that doesn’t have the effect I hoped for.” Schmitt––and thus his alter ego Grumpy––is a guy of Big Romance, the sweeping, theatrical stunt, chivalry and pomp, thorned rose stem between his teeth, the spectacle of the thing over the thing itself. But there’s a limit to the magic of performance. On ‘Unfindable Ring’, he’s beginning to see the charade weigh on its recipients: even if the ruse works, it’ll cost him.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e‘Unfindable Ring', out October 23 on Bayonet Records, is an adventurer’s epic. The arc of the journey, like any good Spirited Away or Neverending Story, lands its wide-traveled protagonist right back at home before bedtime. Grumpy, like many great hero\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003etricksters before him, has always been a project of juxtaposition: upbeat radio-ready hits whose buoyant, goofy hooks belie the dark thoughts they describe. Much of this, Schmitt acknowledges, owes its due to the matter-of-fact morbidity of the trans experience in America. It’s from these experiences—personal, romantic, political, and existential—that the tale of ‘Unfindable Ring’ unfolds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmbition and play have always defined the Grumpy sound. Late last year, the Fader praised their “demented, hooky” EP, “Piebald,” whose innovative fuzz-pop confections earned them coverage in NPR and the New York Times. Stereogum heralded them as “wonderfully weird,” and Paste designated them “the best of what’s next.”” Through boisterous collaborations with the likes of Sidney Gish and Claire Rousay, they’ve effortlessly ingratiated themselves with the titans of DIY, and, more recently, Schmitt has become an unlikely favored collaborator of chart-topping country giant Zach Bryan, who named his new record––which prominently features Schmitt’s harmonies––conspicuously, ‘With Heaven On Top.’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Grumpy, Heaven Schmitt is joined by Anya Good, Ellie Long (Kid Lake), Austin Arnold, Diego Clare (D.A. Crimson), and Lane Rodgers, who each contribute to every step of the process—engineering and recording, mixing, drafting artwork, producing, and making music videos. A kind of interdisciplinary thieves’ guild, the project, while once Schmitt’s solo eponym, is a labor of communal love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey recorded the album “in the tiny stinky room that is our practice space and studio,” run by drummer Arnold, and finished it at Living Room in Queens with Lucas Padulo (Gunna, Roddy Ricch, Lil Baby). Even when they sent it to their mixing and mastering engineer Steve Vealey (Phoenix, Bon Jovi, Laura Marling), they didn’t relinquish control, spending a week alongside him in his studio, perfecting the levels together.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEnergetic and versatile, whizzing between synths fit for an ’80s movie soundtrack, honkytonk strings, jazz percussion, shoegaze distortion, and enough vocoder to replace the Siri library, characters cast out on missions across the country, the world, even across time. Sometimes it sounds like DSU-era Alex G, other times Massive Attack; one minute it’s 100 gecs and the next it’s earnest, acoustic, fragile, a sound entirely Schmitt’s own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn standout “The Whale,” we hear a glitchy vocal sample. One of the surprising moments Good appears on across the record, having harvested an Ableton trove of hundreds of sounds she’s created. Listen closely, you realize it’s a little girl talking to a parrot, and the parrot squawking back. Elsewhere on the album are any number of other colorful experiments. “Unfindable Ring” utilizes mechanized horror-movie kitsch, distortion whizzing into mist, a kind of John Carpenter pastiche, whereas “OBL,” a full-throated Americana anthem complete with gang vocals and Schmitt’s warbling twang, features a session fiddle player. (The latter is not a new direction––Schmitt got his start in Nashville writing folk music.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLead single “Twenty Five,” a shoegazey ’90s jam framed by a dark bass line and tight revolving drums, is about Schmitt’s girlfriend and bandmate, the aforementioned Long. Appropriately reminiscent of the pop-rock bangers dominating the airwaves of Grumpy’s youth, the song is about time travel. Long has admitted that she wishes she could go back in time and transition as a little kid, to live the girlhood she always wanted. “It’s about loving her so much and having this really selfish thought of like, Oh God, what if you do that and we never meet?” Schmitt confesses. “The song is me telling her, If you ever get that opportunity, please leave a clue so that you can get back to me in the present.” He sings with her, their voices distorted together: “You and me, dressing up \/ growing our hair long \/ singing love songs.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“George Clanton,” an ode to the thirty-eight-year-old vaporwave great popular among a particular subset of Arizona Ice Tea-drinking former college kids. Good, who plays live drums for him, took Schmitt out to see a show. Schmitt was astounded by Clanton’s weirdness, his unapologetic costumey swagger. That’s exactly how he wanted to be seen. “I wanna rock like George Clanton,” goes the bridge, “I’ll swing my cock like George Clanton.” (Schmitt did D.M. Clanton the song, to which the older musician replied: “That’s fire bro. I wish I wrote it. I love the cock part.”) “Nothing’s gonna get in my way,” Schmitt repeats on the outro.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn hushed finale “Queens,” Grumpy finally traverses the final frontier––the train back to Ridgewood. The track shears away the dense layers of intricate production to leave only Schmitt’s unmodulated falsetto over keys and guitar. At its core, it’s a ballad about friendship. “Everybody thinks we’re in love,” Schmitt sings, in a delicate head voice, “but we’re only practicing kissing.” He wrote it for Good, who plays the complementary piano melody.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith lead single “OBL,” jubilant as its rollicking heartland groove feels, it chronicles the grimmer aspects of the band’s touring reality. The Grumpy band is almost completely trans (five-sixths, save for Arnold). When rights are daily disappearing, when the type of Tolkienesque intrepid expeditioning ‘Unfindable Ring’ aspires to is stymied by the threat of violence, an awareness of danger is counterbalanced by a gratitude for the small miracle of even making it this far.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“We are living these happy lives, and there are people we come across who don’t know us at all who want us to die,” Schmitt, explains. Often the visibility of the joy itself is what prompts the vitriol––“I’m so happy I could die,” Schmitt belts over and over on the chorus (a familiar figure of speech, sure, but one which, upon any scrutiny, shows Schmitt’s hand in the macabre.) A middle finger to fate, Good started asking, “What are you going to do with your One Beautiful Life?” Grumpy is going to keep playing, touring, searching, finding.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Grumpy","offers":[{"title":"Signed Vinyl + \"Unfindable\" Ring Bundle","offer_id":42619759263790,"sku":"BR081lpc1signedring","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Ice Blue Transparent Vinyl","offer_id":42619759296558,"sku":"BR081lpc1","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":42619759329326,"sku":"BR081cd","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0947\/9132\/files\/Grumpy_Square_Mockups.png?v=1786335511"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.bayonetrecords.com\/collections\/grumpy.oembed","provider":"Bayonet Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}